Richmond-Burton’s most recent shutout required center back Forest Wells clearing a ball rolling toward an empty net.

It required Rockets keeper Easton Wold making multiple athletic saves.

It required the help of a post. And a crossbar.

Not all clean sheets are squeaky clean. Often, they require doing the dirty work – defending.

“That’s what we’re best at,” R-B coach Casey DeCaluwe said.

The Rockets’ 1-0 win over Francis W. Parker in the Class 1A Johnsburg Sectional semifinals Tuesday was their 15th of the season, third in the state tournament and fourth in a row overall.

The victory earned R-B (17-7-2) a berth in Saturday’s 2 p.m. sectional final against Chicago Academy (15-4-3).

Few of the Rockets’ clean sheets have been harder to earn than the one against Francis W. Parker (11-9).

“This one was really tough,” said Wells, the 5-foot-11 junior defender. “They had some really good players. Their positioning was really good, so we had to really work.”

The Colonels made the Rockets work on the offensive side of the grass pitch as well. R-B finally broke through in the 17th minute when Brayden Mumbower’s through ball found a speeding Nick Kyes, who was tripped up in the box by Colonels keeper Abe Erlinger and went sailing forward.

Mumbower drove a low shot into the left corner of the goal for his second penalty kick goal in as many games.

A minute later, Wells kicked away a shot by the Colonels’ Johnny Backx, who dribbled around Wold. R-B’s goalie then got more good fortune in the 29th minute when a low, turnaround shot by Raffaello Franco hit the far post.

R-B happily took its one-goal advantage into the break.

“At halftime, I challenged them,” DeCaluwe said of his players. “I said, ‘Boys, we got to defend. Keep the clean sheet for 40 minutes, and we move on.’ So I’m really proud of that effort in the second half. Easton came up big plenty of times. The post came up big for us a couple of times.”

Wold’s athletic ability and positioning helped him deny two quality chances by the Colonels in the first 14 minutes of the second half.

Then in the 55th minute, Backx’s header off a Rohan Liew cross hit the cross bar. A scramble ensued in front of the R-B net before Wold soared to grab the loose ball.

“That was frightening,” said Wold, who went to his knees and maneuvered to his right to stop Brandon Wolin’s shot in the 65th minute.

R-B had few quality scoring chances in the second half – Dane Gardner’s redirection of a Keyes cross sailed just over the bar in the 67th minute – but the Rockets’ defense helped keep the pressure off Wold.

“Our defense is awesome,” Wold said of a group that features Wells, Nate Larson, Will Gardner and Chace Miller. “My two center backs [Wells and Larson] are the best in the KRC (Kishwaukee River Conference).”

The “group effort” defensively, as DeCaluwe called it, has been typical of the Rockets this season. When Miller went to the sideline with an injury in the final seven minutes, forward Trey Maziarz dropped back to defense.

“We are really close outside of soccer, and we communicate really well,” Wells said of the defense. “We are strong, we got good athleticism, and we just work well together.”

The Colonels never relented in the offensive end. When Wold confidently snatched a shot from outside the box by Liew in the 78th minute, the Rockets all but officially had another clean sheet.

“They definitely gave us everything we could handle,” DeCaluwe said of the Colonels. “Somebody gets to move on, and I’m glad it’s us. We didn’t play our best soccer today. I think in the final third we were a little sloppy connecting. We didn’t click, but once we got the goal, we knew it was time for us to defend.”